The present invention relates to the production of a flavouring composition more especially to the production of a flavouring composition of a hard, ripened cheese, for example, cheddar cheese.
The development of natural sharp cheddar cheese flavour profiles usually requires long and expensive ripening of cheese for a period of several months. The changes in the flavour are produced by native, added or microbial enzymes which break down the milk components such as proteins, lipids, lactose and citrate to produce the flavour components. These flavour components exist in a finely tuned balance to provide the characteristic cheddar profile. The changes occur on a continuous basis which results in the availability of mild, medium, sharp and very sharp cheddar cheeses.
Theoretically, it should be possible to take mild cheese and produce sharp cheese flavour notes by accelerated enzyme activity. However, we have found that such processes provided spikes of individual components and not necessarily the "total" profile of cheddar cheese, although this is acceptable for certain applications.
Methods are also known for producing cheese flavourants in a short time which involve the use of cultures of microorganisms. However, the use of cultures of microorganisms is accompanied by the following disadvantages:
1) Special handling techniques are required PA1 2) Their growth in the product and the subsequent production of desirable flavour compounds is not consistent PA1 3) Sterile techniques are required in the production of organisms for inoculation PA1 4) Natural variation and mutation may result in the loss of production of different metabolites PA1 5) Microorganisms are sensitive to phages which can kill them, resulting in no growth and no production of flavourants. PA1 a) 0 to 100% lipolysed heavy cream; PA1 b) 0 to 100% lipolysed hard, ripened cheese; and PA1 c) 0 to 100% proteolysed hard, ripened cheese, wherein the lipolysis of components (a) and (b) is carried out by a lipase as hereinafter defined.